My sister is currently living overseas. Last month, her Mac was stolen. Unfortunately, she didn't have Find My Mac enabled, as she was running an older version of OS X, which didn't support it. The police did manage to recover the Mac after a few days, but this situation got me thinking... how could you track down a stolen Mac without Find My Mac enabled? Certainly, there are commercial third-party apps that could help. But, what about something a typical Mac user might have installed? What about Dropbox?

AirPrint was introduced with iOS 4.2, and lets you to print right from your iOS device. Now you can be super productive, right? Only if you have an AirPrint enabled printer at your disposal. Although there are hundreds of printers available that support AirPrint these days, what if you're like me, and have older printers that iOS doesn't recognize? Your Mac can help.

If you're a Mountain Lion user, then you've probably encountered GateKeeper. This is Apple's latest security mechanism, which restricts the apps that can be launched on your Mac. By default, GateKeeper only allows apps to run that are from the Mac App Store, or digitally signed by official developers who have registered with Apple. Try and launch an app from an unknown developer, and GateKeeper shuts it right down. What if you need to use the app, though? Can you launch it without disabling GateKeeper entirely? Sure you can.

Your ability to accomplish things while on the go is key to your mobile productivity. You've got tons of great apps on your iPhone or iPad, and probably have some level of access to your important files too, maybe through Dropbox or iCloud. You can do almost anything, but every now and then, you hit a wall. Maybe you need to make some emergency changes in an InDesign layout back home, check on the status of your Mac's backup, or dig up tax returns you filed away on your external drive. If only you could connect to your Mac remotely, take control, and do what you need. With LogMeIn, you can do exactly that.

Staying up to date with your favorite websites and blogs can be a real chore, and a major productivity drain. If only there was a way to quickly get the latest unread headlines from top sites in one place, at any time, on any devices. There is. Available for iPad, iPhone, and Mac is Reeder, the popular Google Reader client.

Your iPhone and iPad are full of useful knowledge. You've downloaded tons of audio books, podcasts, and iTunesU content. The problem is that there just aren't enough hours in the day to download all of it to your brain. Here's a tip that might help...

If you're an Automator user, you probably know how to create iCal Alarm workflows, which can be set to run at scheduled times, allowing processing to occur during downtime. If you're not familiar with Automator or iCal Alarm workflows, check out some of my other tips to get acquainted...

Last week, I shared some useful tips for locating and launching apps faster on your Mac. But what about your iOS devices? They're full of apps too. And, with pages and pages of apps, it can be a real pain in the neck to find the one you want. Here are some tips to help you wade through them.

How often do you find yourself digging through your Dock, Launchpad, or Applications folder to find a certain app? You've got other stuff to do. How about making things a little easier, so you can get back to work? Here are some tips to help you locate that elusive app and launch it a little more quickly.

Each day, our good friends at NASA are kind enough to share a breathtaking photo of our wonderful universe. Sometimes of the Earth, sometimes of the heavens, these photos showcase natural beauty that is surely Desktop-background worthy. Here's how you can create an Automator workflow that runs each night to set your Desktop to the latest photo...

A handy feature in Mac OS X is the ability to quickly and easily define words. In most applications, just Control+click the desired word, and choose Look Up "TheSelectedWord" from the contextual menu to bring up the system-wide dictionary. Even easier, if you've got a trackpad, just double-tap the word with three fingers to display its definition. Automator lets you get even more creative. You can expand these useful dictionary services with one that will read the definition to you. Here's how you do it...

It's 9AM and your boss is on the phone. She's rattling off important info you need for your 9:30AM conference call. Quick! You need somewhere to take notes. Sure, you could use your email client - Mail and Outlbook both include note features. Or, you could use on of the 50,000 note taking apps you've downloaded. Better yet, why not use that handy Automator Service workflow you created? You know, the one that automatically creates RTF notes into a Quick Notes folder, names them with the current date and time, and opens them in TextEdit so you can quickly begin typing? You recall how easy it was to create. Here's how you did it...